Immigration

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An H-1B cap registration proposal has been in the works since 2011, but it may have been President Trump’s Buy American and Hire American (“BAHA”) executive order that finally created the right climate to push the proposal as far as it has now come.  In its proposed rule, published in the Federal Register on December 3, 2018, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) describes two major changes it seeks to implement to the H-1B…
USCIS has released a policy memorandum clarifying the “one continuous year out of three years” L-1 requirement refers to the time before the individual’s filing. Eligibility for L-1 status requires the following: The U.S. company has a parent, subsidiary, affiliate, or branch abroad (“qualifying organization”) The U.S. company is or will be doing business in the U.S. and at least one other country through a qualifying organization during the employment of the individual in…
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The 60-day comment period for the Administration’s new “public charge” rule just closed. There is currently no definition for “public charge” in the rule, but a public charge is understood to be an alien who depends on the government for subsistence, as demonstrated by the receipt of cash assistance for income maintenance or institutionalization for long-term care at the government’s expense. An example of public benefit having this effect is receiving Medicaid while at…
President Trump signed a spending bill thereby averting a government shutdown.  The continuing resolution (CR) provides for a short-term extension of the EB-5 Regional Center Program through December 21, 2018.  The CR also extends the E-Verify and Religious Workers programs.   The CR extends the EB-5 Regional Center Program without any changes.  We will be closely following activity on Capitol Hill surrounding EB-5 reform and/or extension efforts.…
As an update to this reporting- House Introduces Two-Week Continuing Resolution to Extend Vital Programs such as EB-5, on Dec. 6, the House passed H.J. Res 143 – FY 2019 Continuing Resolution Through December 21, 2018, by unanimous consent.  The measure proceeded to the Senate and was approved by unanimous consent approximately one-hour after passing the House. Today, around 10 a.m., the House Appropriations Committee announced on Twitter that the President had signed the…
In the matter of Huashan Zhang, et al. v. United States Citizenship and Immigration Service, et al. (United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Nov. 30, 2018), plaintiffs challenged the decisions of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) to deny their EB-5 immigrant investor visa petitions based upon USCIS’ erroneous interpretation of its own regulation. Plaintiffs also challenged USCIS’ denials of their petitions as violative of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA)…
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) introduced H.J. Res 143 – FY 2019 Continuing Resolution Through December 21, 2018 on Dec. 3 to extend government programs not yet authorized for the fiscal year until Dec. 21, 2018. Programs extended under the filed Continuing Resolution include seven appropriation bills that are set to expire on Dec. 7 under the existing continuing resolution, and critical immigration programs such as EB-5, Conrad 30, Religious Workers, and E-Verify. The…
On Nov. 30, 2018, the Department of Homeland Security issued the notice of proposed rulemaking to amend its H-1B cap-subject lottery process that USCIS conducts every year. The proposed rule seeks to amend the way H-1B cap-subject petitions are submitted for the lottery, and also the way H-1B cap-subject petitions are randomly selected. USCIS proposes a 30-day comment period that makes comments due on the proposed rule by or on Jan. 2, 2019. As of this writing,…
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued its long-awaited Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to amend USCIS Regulations relating to cap-subject H-1B petitions filed under both the regular cap and advanced degree exemption. Comments from the public may be submitted to the agency within the next 30 days.  This does not affect cap-exempt H-1B petitions.  While the proposed changes are subject to possible modification, be aware that the upcoming H-1B cap season will likely…
We are extremely excited to announce that we have been nominated to participate in The Expert Institute’s Best Legal Blog Competition. From a field of hundreds of potential nominees, EB-5 Insights has received enough nominations to join one of the largest competitions for legal blog writing online today. Now that the blogs have been nominated and placed into their respective categories, it is up to their readers to select the very best. The competition runs until…